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Donations Help Create Self-Sustaining Community in Haiti.
Go Daddy Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons and his wife, Renee, returned to Haiti to see how donations helped earthquake victims and to follow up on their promise to the children in Les Cayes. What they discovered during their most recent trip to Haiti was a remarkable transformation, including stories of first-time events that created a self-sustaining community.
Go Daddy and The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation are working together to make a difference in Haiti. Since the devastating 2010 earthquake, they have donated nearly $4 million and partnered with Hope for Haiti, an organization that has worked to help Haitians for more than 24 years. Go Daddy customers have also made a difference by donating to our “Round Up for Charity” program.
“Seeing Go Daddy, Bob and Renee return to Haiti shows they really care about making a difference in the lives of the children in Les Cayes,” said Tiffany Kuehner, President and CEO for Hope for Haiti.
The donations have been centered around the improvements at two schools in Les Cayes. There are new classrooms for the first high school in the community. Children can now look forward to continuing their education and possibly go on to college.
During a 2011 humanitarian aid mission, Bob and Renee discovered the educational needs of the community. Bob learned the schools only went to the 6th grade, leaving many children no choice to advance in school. Bob made a promise on the spot and made a five-year, $2.5 million commitment to expand the schools.
“When you say you’re going to do something — you do it. We made a promise to those kids and that community, and I was going to make sure we kept it,” said Bob Parsons.
The schools are now a life-force of the community, with donations creating self-sustaining programs such as the first school garden that produces food for the school lunch program. This is the first time many children will receive a daily meal.
Bob and Renee have created a special bond with the community. “The kids look up to Bob and Renee,” said Kuehner. “They’ve built a strong bond with them and trust them. It means so much that someone believes in them and are so grateful they traveled so far to see them.”
It’s a relationship that will keep growing as the community creates self-sufficiency, independence and pride. “I’m very proud of these kids,” said Bob Parsons. “We’ll be back — they’re family.”
